Peerless Pursuit (Round 6!) - Peerless Toasted Bourbon Review
Background
In the past year, a lot has changed with my pet favorite distillery! In June of last year, Master Distiller Caleb Kilburn and COO Cordell Lawrence departed to start their own contract distillery. They brought in an Executive VP, Mike Young, who brings with him a ton of experience in the spirits industry. Word on the street is, this has been accompanied by a significant scaling back of Single Barrel picks. They had ramped up to ~150+ last year and rumor has it they are dropping that number back down to around 100 and then will slowly build back from there. Speaking of single barrel picks, John Wadell, who led (and I believe still leads) that program, has a new gig as Head Taster. If you have had the pleasure of meeting John before, you know this is exceptional news. He’s been responsible for many of the delicious distillery exclusive Single Barrels you’ll find in their gift shop.
And of course, there’s this new Toasted Bourbon release. Where their Double Oak bourbon and rye offerings are finished in a second, charred barrel, this release is instead finished in a toasted barrel. Both barrels originate from Kelvin Cooperage, which is music to my ears. Kelvin uses all natural wood flames to char their barrels, and I think is one of the secrets (along with the 107 barrel entry proof) to Peerless’ success. As this preamble now probably takes longer to read than it actually does to toast a barrel, let’s get into the review!
Peerless Toasted Bourbon: Batch 1 (NAS, 111.1 Proof)
Nose: Maple syrup, confectioners sugar, French toast and a bit of a delicate wood note. It's a rather light nose.
Palate: Butterscotch, cinnamon sugar donuts, creme brulee. It has this ineffable comforting sensation, like eating a sleeve worth of Girl Scout cookies in a single sitting.
Finish: Cream soda, candied ginger, golden grahams, toasted oak. It lingers pretty lovingly on the tongue with the toasted oak in particular, yet it somehow avoids being overly dry.
Great to Excellent (7.5/10)
Overall: I'd position this pour as an ideal sipping whiskey. What I mean by that is you can sink into the couch, pour a little heavy, and just let this drift over your palate. It's expertly balanced from start to finish, delivering a lovely blend of toasted sugars with hints of wood and spice throughout. It provides an interesting counterbalance to the High Rye Bourbon or Double Oak offerings, which are more upfront complex and playfully aggressive. This is more an idyllic sipper. I'll be candid that I also don’t think it's a particularly complex dram... that's ok! It's expertly blended and a bottle I’m confident will not last long.
Previous Peerless Reviews:
